At my table: Obama, war and paneforte

A month ago I launched "At My Table". It got a little lost over the holiday period, so I thought it best to start from scratch, and explain again the conversation I'm hoping to start with you through this blog ...

Last year, it hit me that growing up in a household of journalists may not be entirely normal when, sitting at the kitchen table one afternoon, my nine-year-old son said to his sister and a friend, "I'm so over this global financial crisis".

PM was on in the background, as usual - part of a continuous stream of radio and television news programs that the household is subjected to along with a mess of newspapers and magazines. My son's friend is also the son of journalists and when the topic turned to: "who was that one who was running against Obama you know, oh yes, McCain" - I wondered whether perhaps there was a little too much news infusion going on. I would barely have known the name of the Australian Prime Minister when I was their age, let alone the losing candidate in a US Presidential election.

But it brought home to me that journalists do have an interesting relationship with information. They - and clearly their unsuspecting children - absorb it, almost by osmosis, from the information rich environment in which they exist and this can make for some interesting dinner table conversations. Certainly when you get a critical mass of journalists at a dinner party, it can be hard to get a word in edgewise. I've always been conscious too of what a privilege it is, as a journalist, to have people let you into their lives by agreeing to talk to you.

So what I'd like to do with this blog is to throw out a few ideas for dinner party discussions, letting you in on some of the more interesting people - both powerful and not so powerful - to whom I've spoken, and intriguing things I've read, listened to or watched on the topics that are dominating the news and the conversation at my table. And I'd love to hear from you about the discussions on these issues around your table.

I'd also like to throw this blog open to recipes you'd like to match with your dinner party discussion topics - a bit like matching wines.

But first one of the big questions at my table this holiday period was: What happened to Barack Obama?

A year ago the United States' first black president galvanised interest in politics around the world by showing that someone who couldn't even get an official pass onto the Democrat convention floor just two Presidential elections before his 2008 victory, who had no big money behind him and was barely known beyond the state of Illinois, could win the White House. Barack Obama's mantra of hope spawned a cult following, his internet campaign was spectacular and he ended up raising more money than any US presidential candidate in history.

But now America's first YouTube President has the lowest approval ratings after his first year of any modern President. Sure he had the financial crisis to deal with and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sure he came in with expectations that were so huge that he was bound to disappoint. But even so, it was quite shocking to watch him at Copenhagen in his final press conference of the climate summit not even knowing whether he needed to sign the agreement he'd just negotiated. Even when he had a win on his major domestic reform with his health care bill making it through the senate, Obama was unable to win over support from even half the US population for his plans. And now, on the eve of the anniversary of his first year in office, his party loses the race for Ted Kennedy's senate seat - a humiliation in what was once Democrat heartland. Listen to the US Studies Centre's Geoff Garrrett's take on this here.

I analysed Obama's rise to the top in some detail when I was at Oxford University last year and found that, while Obama did revolutionise internet campaigning, he did not run quite the sort of grass roots campaign that he'd like us to think he did. Certainly his wasn't a traditional "war room" style campaign but wasn't just a chat room either.

You can read my paper here, and follow my exchange on e-campaigning with Sam Roggeveen from the Lowy Institute here.

Obama's performance during his first year has frequently been compared with that of the last Democrat president, Bill Clinton, especially because of the challenges both faced on health care reform and foreign policy. Acclaimed civil rights historian Taylor Branch released a fascinating insiders view of the Clinton White House. Listen to my World Today interview with him here, or read the London Review of Books piece here.

If you want to get across the detail of the health insurance changes take a look at the Commonwealth Fund's work. For more on the climate change issues have a look at the suggestions in my first blog.

As for those two wars, a specialist on the region who advised three US presidents (including Bush and Obama) said the US President was taking a gamble with his policy of a troop surge into Afghanistan. Bruce Riedel told The World Today that he hoped Obama wouldn't call him for advice if the strategy failed.

The resignation of former marine, Mathew Hoh, over the Afghanistan war gives an indication of just how tough a decision if would have been for the President. Read Hoh's letter of resignation here and make sure you read to the highly emotional end.

Now for a bit of indulgence. One of the other topics that was raised at my table this Christmas was the recipe for my paneforte. I had a chat about it on Sydney local radio one afternoon where I gve away the secret ingredient (it is white pepper) but for those who love their Italian Christmas treats, here is the full recipe. Make sure you add the pinch of white pepper!